Any Ulead product that will author SVCD mpgs to DVD

[SVCDuser]

Can anyone tell me if Ulead or anyone else makes software that will author an SVCD mpeg file directly to DVD. I want to put a bunch of my old movies now on CD in SVCD format, onto DVD. Most authoring programs will complain about the video not being DVD compliant video and not let you continue.

I have a way of doing it but it's painfully slow. I use DVDPatcher to patch the mpg file to 352 X 480 before authoring with TMPGEnc DVD Author. Then patch the vobs back to 480x480 before burning the folders to DVD. It works but the patching is very slow, and TMPGEnc DVD Author sems to take a very long time to build the folders sometimes. Sometimes its 45 minutes or so for a 800Meg file but other times it only takes 10 or 15 minutes. I thought that with mpgs the same size, that building folders would take the same length of time on them all, or close anyway. Some tapes do have a lot of very similar footage.

There is a program called SVCD2DVD but I heard on USENET that it sucks bad.

Thanks
Dr. J

[thecoalman]

AFAIK you can't put a SVCD video on DVD and expect it to play in a standalone DVD player without reencoding it to a compliant DVD spec. MF will probably do it but I've never tried. Download the trial version and give it a try.

[SVCDuser]

AFAIK you can't put a SVCD video on DVD and expect it to play in a standalone DVD player without reencoding it to a compliant DVD spec.

Oh yes you can for sure. As I said I am doing it now, but slowly.

MF will probably do it but I've never tried. Download the trial version and give it a try.

I already have it but am having all kinds of problems getting it to work. I decided not to put anymore time into it unless I know for sure that it will do what I want.

[maddrummer3301]

Hi,

>Oh yes you can for sure. As I said I am doing it now, but slowly.
Do you have the latest updates to the program installed?
That's important to do.

What the coalman is saying is the files must be converted.
That is why MF is taking so long and generating an error.

It may LOOK like MF3 is doing it but the mpg file in SVCD format has a frame size of 480x480 (not dvd compliant), also the audio in the
svcd file is 44.1khz and dvd audio must be 48khz.

MF3 is converting your file to whatever your target "Project Properties" are set for. Since your making a dvd the SVCD Must be
converted to the correct frame size and audio sampling rates for
Dvd.
That is a very time-consuming process and it sounds like MF3 is
choking in the conversion.

This is what I would try.
First, right click on the video and write down it's file properties,
especially remember the video_bit_rate.

Click on the bottom left icon and goto create disk template.
Give it an easy name to remember for the template.
Make sure you select "Dvd"
Then pick a frame size of 352 x 480 / 4:3 aspect ratio.
Assign a bit-rate equal to the same bit-rate in the svcd file.
Assign audio bit rate at 224kbs either mpeg or dolby depending
on your version of MF3.
Save the new template.

Click on the "Gear" icon on the bottom and assign the new template you just created as your target project property" settings.
Save the Complete Project.

Using settings for conversion equal (as close as possible) to the
source video's properties makes it easier to convert.

Before starting this clean-up all your temp directories and
turn off virus protection and other resident background processes.

Hope this helps,

MD

[GeorgeW]

In DMF4, if you go to the template/project properties (little gear icon) and put an "x" in the "Support X-Disc" option, the program appears to accept an SVCD mpeg2 for DVD Authoring (will still need to encode the audio to 48khz). But the video is not re-encoded.

Whether your DVD Player will play it properly is a different story (longer videos might have video/audio sync issues because the audio is being resampled from 44.1 to 48khz)...

Also, DVD LabPro allows you to author a DVD with "svcd" mpegs -- it gives you a warning that not all DVD Players will play it...

proceed with caution, as these are out of dvd specs.

[SVCDuser]

What the coalman is saying is the files must be converted.
That is why MF is taking so long and generating an error.

No I can tell you for a fact that that is not true. I know what I am talking about here. I am burning DVDs full of SVCD video that play fine in all set top DVD players. They are not converted at all. If I converted them I would only get two or so on a DVD. They were never in DVD format anyway. This is AVI video that was encoded to SVCD years ago to burn to CD. IN SVCD format I get 6 or so CDs of SVCD compliant mpeg video on each DVD now that I have a DVD burner. Much easier to store, make an extra copy of.

I don't think you understood my orignal post properly. I am not using Movie Factory, I am using TMPGEnc DVD Author 1.6. I have to patch the mpg file to 353x480 to fool TMPGEnc DVD Author into thinking that I am giving it DVD compliant video and then patch the VOBs back to 480x480 so they display properly. It is two extra steps and each one takes a while.

I just wanted to know if Movie Factory would do what I want. Create video folders with what ever video I feed it and not enforce the compliany so that I don't have to patch, which takes time. There is very little information in the manuals. It did say that it would author XVCD and XSVCD with out reencoding, I think that what it is saying? The information on the website did not answer my question either.

I thought maybe someone here might be doing this and would confirm it for me. Thanks for the attempt maddrummer3301. Maybe I worded my request better this time.

Still hoping.

Dr. J

[maddrummer3301]

Hi,
OK, now I see what you are doing.

Thought you were using MF3 which forces the file to be rendered to
the dvd spec's.

Good luck with it.

MD

[thecoalman]

No I can tell you for a fact that that is not true.

Apparently you are correct.

I just wanted to know if Movie Factory would do what I want. Create video folders with what ever video I feed it and not enforce the compliany so that I don't have to patch, which takes time.

I don't think so, you will have to patch the headers no matter what disc authoring app you use. Just curious but couldn't you skip the second step, I know the aspect of 4:3 or 16:9 is determined by either the video header for computer playback or the within the ifo file for DVD player playback...just a thought.

BTW if your unaware there is a forum over at www.videohelp.com dedicated to SVCD2DVD.

[GeorgeW]

I just wanted to know if Movie Factory would do what I want. Create video folders with what ever video I feed it and not enforce the compliany so that I don't have to patch, which takes time.

I don't think so, you will have to patch the headers no matter what disc authoring app you use. Just curious but couldn't you skip the second step, I know the aspect of 4:3 or 16:9 is determined by either the video header for computer playback or the within the ifo file for DVD player playback...just a thought.

@SVCDuser:
The 2 options I posted earlier did not require the manual patching of the mpeg headers (if that's what you are trying to avoid). I am also wondering why you have to patch after the dvd folders are created, and what tool you are using to do that? I usually use either IFOedit or PGCedit for editing/altering the dvd.

[thecoalman]

@SVCDuser:
The 2 options I posted earlier did not require the manual patching of the mpeg headers (if that's what you are trying to avoid)..

Sorry George I missed that bit of info you posted.

[SVCDuser]

@SVCDuser:
The 2 options I posted earlier did not require the manual patching of the mpeg headers (if that's what you are trying to avoid). I am also wondering why you have to patch after the dvd folders are created, and what tool you are using to do that? I usually use either IFOedit or PGCedit for editing/altering the dvd.

Sorry GeorgeW I missed your earlier post. It looks like you posted it while I was writing my reply last night and so ended up ahead of my reply. I thought I had read all the posts before I replied. I will respond to both here.

I am going to reinstall MovieFactory and try it out again today. My roommate tells me he has a full version of the program around somewhere. Not sure yet what version. Have to wait till he gets up to find out.

I saw what you were talking about in your first post in MovieFactory but was not sure what they meant by XSVCD. I will need to look at that again.

As for the audio I should not have to reencode it because I will be playing the videos as if they were SVCD on a CD, only they are on a DVD. I am using fully SVCD compliant video and audio now to create my DVDs full of SVCD video and they play and sound perfect. It's not the disk that decides how to play the video but the contents. Just like SVCD or VCD on a CD. You can even put DVD video and audio on a CD but not very much.

As for playing them on various set top players, it has worked on every one I have tried so far. Before christmas I set 27 copies of a DVD I made up to friends who were all in the videos from a trip we did together years ago and it worked for everyone. I have also played them in many of my friends machines and am yet to find a machine they will not work in.

As for DVD Lab Pro, I tried it and got pissed off at the terminology used in the program. The opening screen in the program had me here scratching my head. Maybe I need to put some more time into it. I wil take another look.

Your second Reply:

The reason I have to patch afterward is to change the header info back to 480x480 or the video will play all screwed up. I have some experience with this. When I first started doing this I would end up forgeting to patch back to 480x480 all the time and then the DVD is screwed. In one case I had deleted the orignal files before I noticed that my copy was not patched. I just used Alcohol to rip the video folders from the DVD back to hard disk and patched them and then reburnt them. Worked fine.

The tool I am using is free and it's called DVDPatcher. Info and link are here: http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=DVDPatcher

Thanks for your help GeorgeW and everyone else. I have some stuff to try now.


Dr. J

[SVCDuser]

Hi,
OK, now I see what you are doing.

Thought you were using MF3 which forces the file to be rendered to
the dvd spec's.
MD

TMPGEnc DVD Author would normaly do the same thing but this trick fools the authoring program into thinking the video is already DVD complaint. 352x480 (or 352x576 PAL) are DVD compliant sizes.

Thanks again.

[SVCDuser]

I don't think so, you will have to patch the headers no matter what disc authoring app you use. Just curious but couldn't you skip the second step, I know the aspect of 4:3 or 16:9 is determined by either the video header for computer playback or the within the ifo file for DVD player playback...just a thought.

I would love to skip the second step but the authoring programs are the problem. They will not let me use SVCD video on a CD. They don't understand whats going on. Stupid software. I figured some software company will realize that this can be done and that there are tons of people out there with SVCD stuff they would like to convert to DVDs. It looks like maybe MovieFactory will do it.

Thanks

Dr. J

[GeorgeW]

I am going to reinstall MovieFactory and try it out again today. My roommate tells me he has a full version of the program around somewhere. Not sure yet what version. Have to wait till he gets up to find out.

I saw what you were talking about in your first post in MovieFactory but was not sure what they meant by XSVCD. I will need to look at that again.

As for the audio I should not have to reencode it because I will be playing the videos as if they were SVCD on a CD, only they are on a DVD. I am using fully SVCD compliant video and audio now to create my DVDs full of SVCD video and they play and sound perfect. It's not the disk that decides how to play the video but the contents. Just like SVCD or VCD on a CD. You can even put DVD video and audio on a CD but not very much.

If your room mate has a full version lying around, it's probably NOT the recently released version 4.0 (it could be, but it's most likely an older version).

I've been making miniDVD's for years now (DVD format on CD-R) -- luckily I have a dvd player that actually plays them -- but I have to keep the bitrate down to about 4mbps for it to play smoothly in that dvd player.

Since the cost of dvd5 discs and dvd burners have come down so much, it's easier to just go full-quality on a dvd disc...

If I want to squeeze more on a dvd5 disc, I just plan accordingly when encoding the videos. Luckily I don't have alot of existing VCD and SVCD's that I want to store/transfer over to DVD.